Assignment: Basic tasks such as retrieving items or confronting a specific frenemy; assigned by The Boss. Each employee that contributed to completing an assignment receives 200XP.

Attack Ability: An ability used specifically to attack frenemies in hopes of draining MP and giving negative statuses. An attack roll is determined by rolling the specified dice and adding any attack modifiers.

Critical Hit: If an ability roll naturally results in the maximum number (i.e. 20 for a d20, 10 for a d10), the roll result is doubled. Modifiers are not doubled, just the dice roll. For rolls involving multiple dice, all the dice must show the maximum result (i.e. rolling double 4s for a 2d4 or double 10s for a 2d10).

Day: Made up of 8 soul-sucking hours. A night of prime-time TV is able to put employees into torpor deep enough that it basically hits the “reset button” in the brain. Each employee chooses 1 status to eliminate at EOD regardless of how many hours or days of the effect are left. At EOD, employees regenerate 10% of maximum MP and 15% of maximum AP.

Defense Ability: An ability used to mitigate MP loss from attacks or avoid negative statuses. Rolling the specified dice and adding any defense modifiers determines if the defending employee escapes any MP damage or, if hit, how much damage the defender takes.

Department-Specific Abilities: These abilities are only usable by employees (including frenemies) from a specific department. Like regular abilities, these abilities are only available to employees of specific Tiers, as noted next to each ability name. Take -5 from the ability roll if one of these attacks or defenses is used against a frenemy of the same department.

End of Day (EOD): After 8 hours, all activity ceases, unless an employee has Overtime status.

Experience Points (XP): XP determines how quickly an employee progresses and which abilities he or she can use. XP also determines the level and stat gains of each employee. In general, the employee who gives the final attack when defeating frenemies gets 50XP for Cubicle Drones, 100XP for Middle Managers, and 200XP for Executives. Any employee involved in the completion of an assignment receives 200XP; participating in the completion of a project before the deadline gives 1000XP. Assignment and project XP gains can be modified by The Boss.

Frenemy: A frenemy is any employee, from Synergon or otherwise, that has reason to attack Team members. Don’t be fooled by NPCs, they can quickly become frenemies. Frenemy stats are determined by their department and tier. While each frenemy has a specialty, they mostly come from the standard departments. The name will reflect the specialty, the department and the tier of each frenemy. For instance, the Spiteful Network Administrator is a spiteful employee from the IT department, tier 2. Frenemies have all skills and abilities native to their department and tier. The Greater Frenemy is similar (i.e. Greater Spiteful Network Administrator), but gains +25MP, +35AP and the Intimidate skill. The Boss decides what particular level and attributes each frenemy has, as well as the frenemy’s department.

Frenemy-Specific Abilities: These abilities are not available to Team members, but any frenemy at the appropriate tier can use them, except for Janitors, Customer Service Doofuses, and Security Guards.

Hour: Each employee may use three standard or attack abilities, or any combination of the two, every hour because, let’s face it, few people can bring themselves to be any more productive than that. Employees use defense abilities as many times as they are attacked, so there is no defense ability limit per hour.

Item: Items provide various statuses and bonuses to rolls but require money to purchase. All items, except for Snacks, must be purchased after EOD or during Out to Lunch defense. After purchase, items are located at the owner’s desk unless otherwise specified. Employees may own a total of 10 items at one time, and items may be discarded or traded with other employees. Item effects only apply to the current owner unless otherwise specified. If two items have the same effect, the effects stack.

Leveling: Levels are determined by total XP. Levels 1 through 15 are gained with every 1,000XP, so level 1 at 0XP, level 2 at 1000XP, level 15 at 14,000XP. Levels 16 through 40 are gained every 1,500XP, so level 16 at 15,500XP, level 17 at 17,000XP, level 40 at 51,500XP. Levels 41 through 100 are awarded with every 2,000XP, so level 41 at 53,500XP, level 42 at 55,500XP, and so on.

Luck Check (LC): For those parts of the game that do not have opposing rolls, like attacks and defenses do, a Luck Check is used to determine whether an action is successful. When directed to perform an LC, roll the specified dice and add any modifiers. If the modified roll exceeds the LC rating, the action was successful. If the modified roll is equal to or less than the LC rating, the action failed.

Money ($): It’s all about the money … sorta. Money is used to buy Items, which grant bonuses to abilities and temporarily blind employees to the fact that items don’t bring happiness. Drones receive $1 per day, Middle Managers receive $3 per day, Executives receive $100 per day.

MP Damage: Determined by the attack and defense rolls with applicable modifiers added. If the modified defense roll is equal to or greater than the modified attack roll, the defending employee takes no damage. If the modified attack roll is greater than the modified defense roll, then the defending employee loses a number of MP equal to the difference between the two modified rolls.

Project: A more complex undertaking than assignments, usually involving several parts and an accompanying storyline. The Boss explains the story and the series of tasks required to complete the project. For instance, the company wants a new employee manual so the Team must round up materials and demoralize enough writers and designers to finish the project, finally culminating in a battle with the Managing Editor and Art Director in order to demoralize them enough to convince them their departments should collaborate on the project. Projects also have a specific deadline set by The Boss, usually specified as a number of days to complete the tasks. If the Team cannot complete the project by the deadline, they each automatically lose 30% of their remaining MP and 50% of remaining AP. Successfully completing a project by the deadline gives every Team member involved 1000XP.

Resumé/Attributes: A set of attributes that determine how an employee performs. The attributes are used to modify ability and LC rolls, so improving attribute stats are essential to handling increasingly tougher threats in Synergon.

Skill: A special part of an employee’s personality that gives special abilities or bonuses to rolls. Skills are permanent even though they can be temporarily disabled or have their effects removed. Skill effects only apply to the employee who knows that Skill, unless otherwise specified. New characters are randomly assigned 2 skills and 1 other skill of their choosing. With every 10th level an employee achieves (i.e. at level 10, 20, 30, etc.), that employee may choose an additional skill to learn.

Standard Ability: An ability that generally improves character stats, restores AP and MP, or aids the Team in some way. Results of standard abilities may be instantaneous or require the employee to pass an LC.

Stat Gains: Every level gained gives an employee 1 point to apply to any attribute on his or her resumé.

Status: A status is gained as a result of abilities or items that have a specific effect on the employee. Some are positive, others less so, but they all affect the employee’s stats or ability rolls. If an employee receives a status he or she already has, the effects do not stack. The hours of duration, on the other hand, do stack. For instance, if an employee is already experiencing 3 hours of Ashamed and rolls another 2 hours of Ashamed, that employee would continue to suffer the standard effects of Ashamed, but for 5 hours.

Successful Attack/Hit: Any time the attack roll plus modifiers is greater than the defense roll plus modifiers, it is considered a successful hit and the target takes MP damage.

Successful Defense: Any time the defense roll plus modifiers is equal to or greater than the attack roll plus modifiers, it is considered a successful defense and the defender takes no MP damage.

Team: The Team is composed of other employees (fellow players) that will work together to survive. Team members can attack common frenemies and use defense abilities to counter attacks against other Team members. It’s in everyone’s best interest to protect other members of the team. There is no limit to the size of the Team, but a Team of 4-6 players is recommended.

The Boss: The Boss is Synergon, having ultimate control over the game and employees’ lives. He or she fulfills the roll of the Game Master: giving projects and assignments, mediating disputes, enforcing rules, monitoring rolls, dictating encounters and weaving the tale of Synergon and its employees as the game progresses. The Boss has the final say any time there is a dispute over gameplay or interpretation of the rules.

Weekend: At the end of every fifth day, all statuses are eliminated and each employee regenerates 50% of maximum MP and 75% of maximum AP. Two days away from this hell-hole. Make the most of it.